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TagsNews Corp. reinstates three TV stations to a ‘conceding' cable company
BY LINDA MOSS
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Cablevision finally blinked Saturday night.
Begrudgingly, and after a bitter two-week battle, Cablevision reached an agreement in principle to resume carrying three News Corp. TV stations in time for Saturday night's World Series game and Sunday's match-up between the New York Jets and Green Bay Packers.
Shortly after 7 p.m., both Cablevision and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. announced that Fox's WNYW and WWOR in New York and WEXF in Philadelphia were immediately being put back on the cable company's lineup. Fox Business Network, National Geographic Wild and Fox Deportes were also reinstated to Cablevision's programming roster.
News Corp. yanked its three stations Oct. 16, and Cablevision didn't sound very happy about the impasse-ending deal.
"In the absence of any meaningful action from the FCC, Cablevision has agreed to pay Fox an unfair price for multiple channels of its programming including many in which our customers have little or no interest," the cable company said. "Cablevision conceded because it does not think its customers should any longer be denied the Fox programs they wish to see."The deal came just a day after News Corp. reached a carriage deal and ended its dispute with Dish Network, which likely put pressure on Cablevision to resolve its differences with the broadcaster.
For two weeks Cablevision's more than 900,000 customers in New Jersey and total 3 million in the Tri-State area have been without their beloved Giants games, the first two games of the World Series and hit shows such as "Glee" and "House."
News Corp. issued a one paragraph statement.
"Fox Networks and Cablevision announced today that they have reached an agreement in principle for a new distribution agreement to provide more than 3 million households with programming from WNYW FOX5 and WWOR My9 in New York, WTXF FOX29 in Philadelphia, and the cable channels Fox Deportes, Fox Business Network, and Nat Geo Wild," News Corp said. "The signals for all stations and cable channels were restored Saturday prior to the first pitch of World Series Game 3 on Fox."
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
But News Corp., under the law called retransmission consent, was seeking cash compensation for carriage of its stations from Cablevision.
The cable company succeeded in rallying politicians to its side, asking that News Corp. agree to binding arbitration and that the Federal Communications Commission intercede. While the FCC asked both sides for proof that they were negotiating "in good faith," the agency did not step in.
And in an editorial, a New York Times editorial said that the FCC should not interfere in the business dispute between Cablevision and News Corp.
"Cablevision thanks its customers for understanding the reasons for the dispute and for staying with us," Cablevision said in Saturday's statement. "We are also grateful to the 175 government leaders who raised their voices to urge government intervention and binding arbitration to prevent this blackout. It is clear the retransmission consent system is badly broken and needs to be fixed."
Added Cablevision, "In the end, our customers will pay more than they should for Fox programming, but less than they would have if we had accepted the unprecedented rates News Corp. was demanding when they pulled their channels off Cablevision."
